SBIR-STTR Award

Effective sealing or resealing of joints in bituminous and cast concrete runways is an old and on-going problem. Many of the presently used materials are deficient due to poor adhesion to the pavement, hardening and excessive contracting during exposure to cold weather resulting in pavement cracking and delamination, shrinkage due to cure and loss of solvents etc. As part of a phase ii sbir program with the faa of dot, springborn developed novel epoxy and polysulfide sealants for embedding landing lights and conductors in airport pavements, sealants which have successfully overcome those deficiencies discussed above. The purpose of the proposed phase i effort will be to develop improved sealing compounds which will provide ease of placement and much improved field durability and to develop test specifications to qualify new sealants as they are developed or appear on the market. Sealants developed in the phase i program will be based on the epoxy and polysulide formations developed by sli for dot as well as other commercial resin systems.

Keywords:
runways pavements concrete joint sealants epoxy polysulfide silicones pavement sealan

Effective sealing or resealing of joints in PCC runways for military aircraft is an old and on-going problem. Many of the presently used materials are deficient due to attack by fuel and hydraulic fluid, melting/trailing on exposure to jet engine blast, loss of adhesion to pavement, especially at low temperatures, etc. During Phase I of the proposed program, Springborn demonstrated the feasibility of an epoxy-cured nitrile rubber-based sealant. This material shows good resistance to JP-5 and other chemicals, as well as jet engine blast, and has good adhesion and flexibility at temperatures as low as -20 degrees F. The Phase II effort will concentrate on refining the base formulation for wet adhesion and UV resistance, identifying/ developing meter/mix/dispense equipment for field installation of seals, field testing, analyzing the manufacturing costs, and modifying test specifications for use in Q.A.